National Radio Project

This June, thousands of grassroots activists converged on Detroit, Michigan to attend the 2010 United States Social Forum.  We were there and on this edition of Making Contact, we'll bring you some of the local and international voices we found.

In a special collaboration with “Feet in 2 Worlds,” we hear the story of an immigrant family torn apart after an immigration raid in Phoenix, Arizona.  And we report on a successful grassroots effort to change policies at “Hutto.”

It’s been decades since the U.S. has had a powerful labor movement and recent efforts to revive it have mostly fallen flat. But there is hope for a new labor movement that goes beyond the unions.

An interview with James Lawson, the chief architect of the 1960 lunch counter sit-ins, and confidant to Martin Luther King. Lawson touches on everything from Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez to the modern gay rights and environmental movements.

For many people in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community, the struggle to legalize gay marriage across the U.S. remains the priority political battle.  But others in the LGBT community disagree.